"Not at all. Now you go ahead and dress. I'll sit and wait for you. I'll bear you down with me. Everyone's waiting to meet you."
"That's good to know," said Bishop. "I felt quite a stranger."
"Oh, my, no," said Monty. "No need to. Not many come, you know. They'll all want to know of Earth."
He rolled the glass between his fingers.
"How about Earth?" he asked.
"How about - "
"Yes, it still is there, of course. How is it getting on? What's the news?"
7
He had not seen the hotel before. He had caught a confused glimpse of it from the alcove off the lobby with his luggage stacked beside him, before the bell captain had showed up and whisked him to his rooms.
But now he saw that it was a strangely substantial fairyland, with fountains and hidden fountain music, with the spidery tracery of rainbows serving as groins and arches, with shimmery columns of glass that caught and reflected and duplicated many times the entire construction of the lobby so that one was at once caught up in the illusion that here was a place that went on and on forever and at the same time you could cordon off a section of it in one's mind as an intimate corner for a group of friends.